Post-Capitalism as Archaization: Institutional Drift towards Neo-feudalism?

In the article, post-capitalism is viewed not as a prospect of a progressive movement towards a brighter future, but as archaization – the establishment of social relations reminiscent of pre-capitalist ones. Concepts are considered, the authors of which point to the corresponding tendencies: parcelling of sovereignty, merging of economic and political power, blocking the paths of upward mobility, class and caste character of social stratification, and much more. The article substantiates that the reasons for these trends should be sought not only in neoliberalism. The author puts forward the thesis that some of the phenomena associated with modernist progress (increasing the share of the middle class in society, accelerating social mobility, etc.) were a historical exception because, thanks to the industrial revolution, the broad masses of workers acquired a significant “negotiation” advantage in the form of a well-sold labour force involved in material production. This advantage disappears as production becomes more automated and the creative economy grows. Creative “labour” is much more difficult to sell due to the unpredictability of the creative process itself. Economic elites, in turn, rarely invest directly in “human capital”, preferring to look for talents and “appropriate” them, rather than develop them on a massive scale. This leads to the corresponding transformations of the social structure. Nevertheless, the article argues that the terms referring to the past (neo-feudalism, etc.) are unlikely to be suitable for a correct assessment of the current situation. We are in a different situation when the omnipotence of the “neo-feudal” can quite be countered by a perspective in which the universal and purposeful acceleration of scientific and technological progress is accompanied by a growing demand for maximizing the realization of everyone's talents.

Keywords: post-capitalism, neo-feudalism, communism, cognitive capitalism, creative economy, knowledge communism, rent, rental society, post-democracy